What Does Ephesians 5:22 Mean in the King James?
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek leaves “submit yourselves” unstated here, carrying the action forward from the preceding verse’s call to submit to one another.
THE MEANING
The verse directly calls wives to take an ordered, yielding relation to their own husbands, “as unto the Lord.” Its wording connects that direction to the preceding call for mutual submission. The instruction to wives remains specific, while the Lord remains its point of reference.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This is not a grammatically isolated command to wives: its unstated verb is carried forward from the preceding verse’s call to mutual submission.
THE ROOT
ὑποτάσσω
hypotassō
GROWS FROM
τάσσω (tassō), in the compound ὑποτάσσω
To arrange or place under, in an ordered relation.
The Greek wording leaves the verb unstated in this verse; “submit yourselves” is supplied from the preceding verse. That grammatical link connects the wife’s instruction to mutual submission while preserving the specific direction given to wives.
ALSO GROWS
tassō: Arrange, appoint, or assign.
τάσσω
This component of the compound gives submission the sense of taking an ordered position within a relationship.
hypotagē: Submission or subjection.
ὑποταγή
This noun from the same word family shows submission as an enacted relation, not merely an attitude of politeness.
THE PATTERN
The household teaching places each spouse’s conduct under the Lord while giving each a distinct responsibility.
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.THE THREAD
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.This verse uses the same Greek verb, ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō), whose action is left unstated in 5:22. That carryover places the wife’s specific instruction inside the preceding call to mutual submission.
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